Strike Back
by RachThePirate13
Summary: 25 years after Eva and co left Oban, the story is continued with the new generation of racers on the new and un known planet Octrona. What suprises will await 16 year old Nathaniel Thunderbolt and his new found friend Molly?
1. Chapter 1 Ready, Set, Fly!

5 years after the great race of Oban, humans began spreading further into space/. Encountering new enemies and developing the first base on Mars. Of course there were Martians to set things back, but after a discussion with the leader of the Martians, it was cleared and they settled in to dig whatever rare and valuable metals Mars had under its red crusty layer. Among those living on Mars, was the ex great race Pilot, Rick Thunderbolt and his new life. He had to leave Earth after countless managers where begging him to come back into racing. He couldn't explain about his crash on Alwas otherwise everyone would be asking what he was doing there. He had met his future wife and had settled nicely with what he called his retirement fund, which would have him set for 3 generations. Eva on the other hand, returned to live with her father. She grew up strong and more determined to race. Her father left her the deed to Wei racing when he moved on. Eva wasn't interesting in managing, she wanted to race. So she sold the deed on to another person looking for a new job in racing, Rick Thunderbolt. So now there was Thunderbolt racing, Eva racing for them and Don Wei relaxing half way across the globe. When Rick moved back to Mars for the second time, he set up a Mars racing branch for those on Mars interesting in racing. Hundreds applied but there where only 3 pilots brave enough to take the same risks as Rick would. Rick introduced the Rocket seat as a new way of piloting the star racers for those younger racers. People all over where trying new ways of piloting a racer but all failed to make one successful. Now, 25 years since the Great Race of Oban, a new generation continues the tale.

Nathaniel Thunderbolt sat upside down on the sofa, watching the grand prix live from Japan on Earth. That was where is father and brother had been all month. He was bored of waiting for them to come back. He was disappointed he couldn't race, ever again.

"Fantastic, a triple barrel role from the Mars and Earth team. Will they ever slow down?" The commentator commented on the barrel role his brother had just pulled off.

"I can do 4 rolls." Nathan grumpily remarked.

His mother appeared at the door watching him.

"One lap remaining! Who will win in this awesome race…oh my! It appears the home team pulled back a little there. Is something wrong with their ship? We now go live to the pits…"

"He's too scared of the hyper drive." Nathan slyly remarked.

"You know watching that will only make you angrier." His mother sighed.

"Well I want him to crash and burn. I want to race!" Nathan replied as he slid down the couch landing on the floor, head first.

"Maybe when you're older. I thought you had to fix your camera this week?" His mother asked.

"It fixed itself." Nathan replied rolling himself the right way up.

"Well go mope somewhere else. It's not my fault you can't race so don't take it out on me."

His mother left the TV room closing the door. Nathan turned back to the TV and watched as the team finished its last lap.

"And what a wonderful race! Thunderbolt racing has won the managing trophy for over 30 victories this season! But more importantly the well earned victory by the fabulous, and yes ladies, still single, Jay Thunderbolt! What's the story Jay?" The reporter asked his brother. Nathan booed at the t.v.

"Well after Eva decided to take a break, I had to get pulled in to take her place. But this trophy is rightfully hers, so I'll pass it on because if she didn't race all the races before, we wouldn't have won this whole thing." Jay explained.

Nathaniel switched of the TV and stormed out of the house. He only had one place to go where he could complain that Jay as a big jerk, the local mechanics shop.

The recent Molly strolled around the streets with her large group of friends. They just happened to be giggling over the biggest name in the music industry. It was just that same person Molly didn't get on with after meeting him on several occasions.

"Oh my gosh! Did you hear, he's like touring next month! I can't wait I have tickets already for all 5 of us. Backstage too!" Her best friend commented waving five tickets. That meant she was going as well.

"You know what guys, I can't go. I have to stay with my granddad in Japan that month." Molly made up an excuse.

"Don't be stupid. You're practically in with the guy. You always hang around in Thunderbolt racing, you must see him loads!"

"No, he lives on Mars. How can I see someone that lives hundreds of light-years away?" Molly asked.

"Yeah, but I've seen that cute picture of you with him when you where like five. You were covered in paint and you said he was covered in oil and grease from a racer. So don't lie that you've never met him." Her friend commented angrily.

"Fine, so I have met him. I don't like him end of story." Molly carried on walking.

"What! How can you not like that cute thing?"

"Easy. He's a two faced jerk. In front of the cameras, sure he's all nice, but I've met him. He's grumpy, cranky and prefers to be the one in the driver's seat."

"Well, you're just made for each other then."

"Will you stop with that! I'm going to be late so if you don't mind I have a race to attend." Molly stormed off in the biggest mood ever.

She despised that guy, even though her friends thought he was the cutest thing to hit Earth since ever. She entered her pit and climbed up the ladder.

"Remember Molly, no gunner today. Just plane racing. A clean race…Are you listening to me?" Her manager snapped.

"Yeah yeah, I heard you. See you at the finish line." Molly waved and shut the pod tightly.

She flicked the switch and her racer sprang into life. She plugged her music player into the racers speakers and they began pounding out the one band she adored in the world. She raced out onto the start line. Her opponent was racing some old model of what she was racing.

"This is going to be so easy." Molly grinned watching the lights.

She glanced over and saw the large team manager Rick Thunderbolt at the sidelines with his new victor, but her mother wasn't there. Feeling disappointed, Molly turned back to the lights just as they flicked to green and she sped off. Her opponent put up a strong fight, tailing right behind her and ramming her at any opportunity.

"Not today my friend. I want this title."

Molly flicked on the booster engines and sped off, circling the track perfectly. Her opponent drifted further and further behind as she started her second lap.

"This race is so mine."

Molly relaxed a little and eased the thrust on the engines. The fact that she didn't have anyone to talk to in the gunner seat made her feel alone. If she crashed she was going down alone. She checked her fuel levels, they where stable, but she had to stop after this lap otherwise she would break down. She whizzed past the start line for the second time and switched off her booster engines. She noticed her opponent was just behind her, by about 10 seconds or so. She pushed the racer forward drifting apart from the other racer and gradually making her way towards the finish line. Suddenly something struck her ship, directly on the engines. The cheats behind her had guns!

"No! No! This can not happen now!"

Molly raged flicking every switch possible to get it back and steady. Her racer slowed down and she landed inches from the finish line as her opponent crossed it. Molly raised the pod's lid and slumped against the handlebars. Rick had arrived on the scene.

"Don't worry yet Molly. The judges are viewing it again to see if he did shoot at you. If they did it's a victory for you. If not then you'll have to race again." Rick told her.

The large t.v was reading analysing. The crowd was muttering and mumbling to each other. Then the clip of the attack came on. The blasts did come from the ship behind her. It was approved. She had won her first ever junior races.

"Yes! It's a victory! Can you believe that?"

Molly jumped up off her rocket seat and punched the air in triumph. She paused her victory moment and turned to Rick.

"Do you know where my mum went? I heard she just left." Molly asked.

"A secret source told me she had to go to a meeting with a certain president of the earth."

Rick winked at her. She grinned and climbed out of her racer to go and claim her prize. She ran backwards before twisting around to wave at all the people. She felt something she had never felt before. She stepped up onto the podium and collected a trophy with her name engraved on it, with the date and the name of her star racer, The Whizzing Arrow 4.


	2. Chapter 2 Secret Life

"Yoddles Nathan. How is life treating you?" His hyper mechanic friend Allie asked wiping her spanner on a cloth.

"Awful. My brother is the biggest jerk to ever exist on this planet." Nathan roared.

He picked up his tool belt and slung it around his waist. He sometimes helped out at the shop, fixing whatever he could fix and helping his friend work on their all important secret project known as Project Electromagnet at the moment.

"I agree. He's in well over his head. Did you hear that he's coming back tonight? So you might need to bring out the cavalry my friend." Allie nudged Nathan friendly.

"Oh joy. Just what I needed. Another long winded tale about how he almost died in a crash. Sometimes I feel like jamming a booster drive down his throat. Then we'll see who is laughing." Nathan plotted evilly.

He headed towards their project. The cover was already off and it looked great. It still needed a paint job, but that was the fun part later. He patted the hyper drives he had been working on all week.

"Just to let you know, Stan and Koji stopped by earlier today. They helped m fix up the engines. So now it runs as smooth as any racer should. In no time you can race against your brother."

"Awesome! What needs to be done on it then?"

"We still need to fix the board in. Then make sure it reacts with the steering fine." Allie listed the last few steps.

"What did they think of it?"

"They loved it. They said it reminded them of themselves when they were our age. They couldn't believe someone like you was into building things."

"I surprise a lot of people." Nathan replied clambering up into the cockpit of the racer.

He stepped onto the base and spotted the sleek board they had bought almost 6 months ago. The wires where trailing out and all the right technology had been added into the board. He began to attach wires tightly into their right places. Suddenly something hit him.

"Hey Allie, I was wondering, what do we do if someone rams the ship? You'll fall of from the impact."

"Already thought ahead Nathan. There is optional foot straps, so just in case your opponent seems to enjoy ramming things you can make sure you don't slide off and end up on the floor. It would be pretty hard to get back up if your opponent is ramming you every 2 seconds."

"Great. I'll get the board fixed on tightly then." Nathan lifted the board from the side of the cock pit and placed it on its side to connect the wiring properly.

"Congratulations Molly! She will advance up to senior racing. Not the old racing but the more experienced racers. If she does well in that division, then she will rise up to the Minor leagues."

"Only fifteen and already out of the junior leagues. Some kids amaze me today."

The two commentators rattled on about the victory as Molly steered her racer back in with the lid down. She wasn't going fast so there wasn't much problem with having the lid down. She pulled into her pit and was greeted by a range of cheering and clapping from all the team backstage.

"Well done Molly. I couldn't have done it better myself."

"I didn't really do much. My opponent cheated." Molly commented shutting everything down.

"But still, excellent race. I'm sure your mother would be very proud of you."

"Oh, she is very proud of her daughter." Someone announced from the pit door.

"Mum!" Molly screamed happily darting over to greet her mother, Eva Wei.

"Well done. You're following in my footsteps. I can't believe how fast you're growing up." Eva commented hugging her daughter.

"Why did you have to leave Mum?" Molly asked.

"The president wants me and a small team to head to a distant planet to race. Nothing too important though."

"Can I come?" Molly asked.

"Of course, I'll need a pilot. Rick, I hear you will be taking half of the team from Mars. So pick wisely. We leave in two days." Eva announced.

Rick nodded and led his eldest son out of the room. They needed to get home. They needed a team, no matter what.

Nathan stepped back to admire his work on the ship. The sun had sunk darkening mars into a night darker and colder than Earths.

"Wow. Amazing Nathan. We better go home, otherwise we'll freeze. I'll see you tomorrow." Allie waved goodbye as she buttoned up her coat and left the garage.

Nathan looked around the empty garage and at the standing racer. His face was smeared with oil and dirt after checking through the engines one last time. Stan and Koji had done a fantastic job of fixing them all what was left to do was test it out. He had the largest temptation to race it. But he knew he shouldn't. After all it was dark and cold out, the engine would probably stall. But he found himself on the board powering up the engines. The burst into action quickly and smoothly. He let the engines warm up and he tested out the steering. He swerved in all ways just to check that it responded. Everything seemed fine. He slowly took it out of the garage and out into the night. He flicked on the heaters to warm himself up and let it adjust to the air outside. This was just the opportunity he had been waiting for. He kicked the throttle forward and the ship burst into a speed exceeding the common racer most juniors used. It moved easily and swerved around the buildings smoothly. It was almost built for him. He decided to try spinning around. As soon as he spun around his feet where locked onto the board tightly.

"Yes!" He shouted spinning around and around.

A red light began flickering on the screen indicating that his little joy ride was over. They hadn't filled up the fuel tank when they had first built it, so there was no fuel left at all. He brought the racer slowly to a halt and parked it up in its usual place. Nathan switched everything off and stepped out of the cock pit. He closed it back over from the outside and jumped down. He noticed lights in the garage manager's office. It was rare he stayed this late.

"Look, I will not let you take that prototype ship. It's never been tested." The owner yelled at his guest.

Nathan felt like wandering in and letting this guest know that it had been tested and worked fine. But he heard a voice that changed his mind.

"I don't care. We'll test it ourselves. We need two ships and that new ship is perfect for the race. I need to get a team together."

"Well come back tomorrow and ask the builders of the ship. They have spent almost a year slaving away on the plans for that ship. If it goes into your hands it will probably come back in pieces."

The guest stormed out of the room. Nathan knew who it was, the dark sunglasses and black hair. It was his father. He smiled at his dad as he walked past.

"What an earth are you doing here?" He snapped, clearly in a bad mood.

"Nothing." Nathan replied innocently.

"Right, and you have oil on your face why?" His dad asked.

"I've been building that ship with my friend."

"You, building a racer. You can just about fix your own camera never mind a racer."

His father left the garage and got into his car. If Nathan knew him right he would take the main road home which would be busy with people rushing to get home before it got any colder. Nathan turned and kicked a spare bolt across the floor. He removed his tool belt and slung it onto a chair and gathered his few belongings he had left. He was going with his dad if he liked it or not.


	3. Chapter 3 The Adventure Begins

_Just a little note, I think I forgot to describe what Nathan and Molly looked like, my bad. Well here you go. Also, can I point out that Molly is Eva Wei's daughter (The Molly in the series)._

_Nathan has black hair, but the odd thing about him is the fact he has two separately coloured eyes. One is Brown and the other is Green. He is tall and thin. Consider him to look like one of our modern day rocker teens._

_Molly has black hair which she has died the tips of white. She has black eyes and is about the same height as Nathan. She's average weight. She is just a regular girl that looks a lot like Eva._

_And on with the story!_

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A few doors where slammed before Nathan's mother appeared at the kitchen door. Jay was looking through the gap in the sitting room door after spending countless hours looking at his trophy and polishing it.

"Nathaniel stop banging doors." His mother ordered before realising something was wrong.

Nathan carried on stomping up the stairs as if nobody else existed. His mother placed both of her hands on his shoulders, stopping him.

"What's wrong?" She asked.

"He's a jerk." Nathan mumbled.

"Who? Jay?" His mother guessed

"Who do you think? The man you're married to." Nathaniel swiped his mother's hands away and continued up the stairs.

He entered his room and slammed the door, locking it for extra security. He got read for bed and sat in his bed staring at a picture of their family before racing became a big part of his dad's life. He could hear his mother asking his dad what was wrong with him. Nathan shrank under the covers, scared and worried. He wondered what his father could want with his proto type ship.

"Look Mummy! Jay's going to win!" A six year old Nathan excitedly said as he jumped up and down.

"Yes he will. He's taking after your father defiantly." His mother replied lifting him onto her shoulders for a better view.

"Why doesn't Daddy race no more?" Nathan asked.

"He had a terrible accident, so now he manages the team."

"When I'm older I want to race too." Nathan grinned resting his chin on his mothers head.

Jay crossed the finish line first while the crowd erupted into screams and cheers. Jay instantly ran out of the racer and over to his mother.

"I did it! I won!" He happily reported.

"I did see it." His mother congratulated along with him.

"I wanna race too!" Nathan interrupted clapping from his mothers shoulders.

"Can I take him around the track once? He'll love it!" Jay asked.

"Fine. But be careful, no spins or going to fast. You don't want to scare him." His mother lifted him off her shoulders and passed him to Jay who led him over to the ship.

"Jay, what do you think you are doing?" Rick asked from the sidelines.

"Don't worry! I'll be back in a minute!" Jay replied carrying Nathan up into the cockpit of the racer.

Rick watched in anger as his eldest and newest racer took his little brother around the race track. This was not what he wanted. Jay landed and carried Nathan back out he was all hyped up over his ride in the racer.

"That was awesome Daddy! I want to race too!" Nathaniel cheered as he ran about the pit pretending to be in a racer and crashing as Jay lifted him up again.

Rick turned and left. Completely ignoring Nathan's pleas to race when he is older.

"Why won't Daddy let me race Jay?" Nathan asked puzzled.

"Because he's a mean old man" Jay sighed.

He sat down outside the pit watching as the closing ceremony began. He felt peaceful and calm. Nathan was sat beside him watching the ceremony with eagerness. From behind them, flames erupted from the pit. Jay pulled Nathan away and placed him well away from the blazing pit.

"Stay here Nathan. I want to know what happened." Jay ran off, leaving Nathan alone.

He stood watching the flames lick away at the metal walls, melting them. He heard sirens call from all directions and felt dazed and confused. The heat was unbearable for him to handle. The firemen were dragging him away and someone was calling his name as he blacked out.

Nathan shot up in his bed, he heard feet moving about outside. He tip toed over to his door, knowing how creaky the floor boards where. He unlocked it a peered out. Jay was moving a suitcase down the stairs again. So was his father. Nathan watched them anxiously.

"Go if you want, but this time I'm coming too." Nathan muttered.

He grabbed a pair of shoes and some spare clothes and placed them in a bag. He left the house and saw his father and brother speeding away in the car. He jumped onto his Rocket seat and took off after them. He followed them to a shuttle port. Waiting near a large space rocket where 6 star racers and people he had never seen before. One was his own he had built with Allie. He steered his rocket seat over to one of the star racer trailers and hid it underneath the giant piece of frost protective covering that was lay over it. He switched it off completely and left it. Hoping nobody would see it. He looked at the rocket. He had seen one before, but never one this size. He was walking and staring at the same time, a bad combination. Especially when walking around a busy shuttle port.

"Hey watch where you're going!" A girl yelled as they collided.

"Sorry, I wasn't looking in that direction." Nathan apologised.

"Hey, you're that guy, Thunderbolts kid."

"Yeah, so what?" Nathan asked.

"You don't remember me? We used to hang out in pits when my mum and your brother where racing."

"Nope. Not ringing any bells." Nathan thought hard.

"Never mind. I'll re introduce myself. The Name is Molly Wei. I don't know my dad so I use my mums last name. She won't tell me who my dad is and my granddad won't tell me either. It's annoying. But I race instead of my mum now. Are you racing? Being a Thunderbolt and all, or are you just going to entertain us all? Or maybe to sign a couple of autographs, you know my friends are obsessed over you. I really don't see the big attraction." Molly joked.

"I hate what I do. I prefer racing." Nathan gazed at the floor in sheer disbelief that he had met someone that didn't want to marry him or stalk him for the rest of his life.

He looked towards the shuttle. It was almost ready to launch.

"Hey, are you coming? The ships leaving. You can hide out with me and my mum if you don't want your dad to find you. I know what it's like." Molly grinned.

"Thanks, I guess." Nathan replied.

He followed her onto the shuttle and into a small room where a tall woman stood looking over a map.

"Hey mum, I'm sure you remember Nathan." Molly announced.

"Long time no see Nathaniel Thunderbolt." Eva replied turning around

"He doesn't want to be left behind by his dad again." Molly blurted out.

"I know he's become a bit of a jerk recently, but don't worry. I'll cover you and say I brought you to race. He's been really stressed out over something." Eva grinned friendly.

"Thanks. That's the best news I've heard all day." Nathan sat down and fastened himself in for take off to where ever they where going.


	4. Chapter 4 Welcome to Octrona

_Ok, here's a quick description of Allie, I missed her off too. Jay looks almost the same as Nathan, just give him two brown eyes and make him taller and there you go!_

_Allie is a 16 year old mechanic who works in her Uncles garage, building star racers. She has blonde hair that is always tied back and always has some sort of tool on her. She is as tall as Nathan and has blue eyes._

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"Wakey Wakey sleeping beauty." Molly skitted Nathan as he lay sprawled on the chair as if he hadn't slept in hours.

"What time is it?" Nathan asked rubbing his eyes.

"Six in the morning Earth Time, mid day Octrona time." Molly sat down next to him.

"Where are we?" Nathan asked still half asleep.

"Octrona dopey. You defiantly are not a morning person." Molly joked.

"It's not nice to skit a guy so early in the morning." Nathan replied leaning forward.

"Come on, we have to go. There's a welcoming ceremony by the people on this planet."

Molly stood up. She grabbed her bag and slung it over her back. Nathan picked up his own bag and held it in his hand while he waited for Molly to get her mother. He heard a knock on the shuttle door. Nathan looked around. Nobody was there to get it apart from him. He was worried if it was his dad or his brother, then he would be in trouble. He pressed the release door expecting someone to yell at him.

"This is the Earth shuttle right?" The person asked.

"Yeah." Nathan replied.

"Well where is the team manager?"

"I'm right here and you should know better than to answer the door without my permission." Eva commented angrily

"I doubt I'm a stranger to you Molly."

"Molly? Nobody's called me that since…Jordan? It really is you! I've not seen you in 16 years!"

"Well I have been busy, with you know what." Jordan winked.

Nathan looked at the man in the door. He looked like an Army man, but with different coloured hair.

"Can I ask why you have a boy from Mars here?"

"It's a long story."

"You better get moving, the Mars team has already moved on to their boarding's. I've agreed to monitor the race on behalf of the Octronians."

"How many teams are here?" Eva asked.

"About 100 teams maybe more some are still arriving. Jordan explained leading them out.

"Is there a prize?" Molly asked running up beside the stranger.

"Maybe, maybe not. I can't reveal anything at this moment in time." Jordan replied leaving her puzzled and unsure.

Nathan found himself in shock at the fact that there wasn't a car or a train waiting. In fact, there wasn't much of a road to drive on, just a couple of paths and squares for markets and shops. It was practically a water planet. Their transport was a boat, a rather large boat. Just ahead was another boat with a Mars racer sitting on the back. Nathan sighed in relief. Jordan helped Eva up and then Molly. Nathan got himself up and sat at the back with Molly, while Jordan and Eva caught up with old times. There where also a couple of earth mechanics, Nathan knew none of them par two. The same two that often visited them on Mars. Stan and Koji. They went inside the small cabin to discuss, locking the door securely so nobody would nose at their conversation.

"I can't believe it's been about 5 years since we last met in the pits. You where a real jerk then. But you seem alright now, but not when you first get up." Molly sighed hugging her knees.

"You don't know half of the story to why I was in a mood. Did you know that was the same day that I got the first record contract. But I actually was after a race contract. My dad said no."

"Oh. All my friends really like you. Sorry to say this, but they think your cute."

"That's not the first time I've heard that said to me."

"Changing the subject now, did you see the racers we got? They're so cool! I have one that's a rocket seat and the other is completely new. The Mars people have the other one. It was developed on Mars. It's got a board in and looks awesome to pilot." Molly described the ship Nathan had actually helped build.

"Really? I helped build a racer like that on Mars, with my friend Allie."

"Well it's a job well done if you ask me. Can you use it?"

"Course I can. Someone had to test it. Did you know that you can switch between a board and Rocket seat while in flight? I added that bit in." Nathan grinned smugly.

"Oh cool! So I could race it too!"

Nathan looked at Jordan and Eva at the front. For some strange reason he got a funny feeling that Molly looked like Jordan.

"Just asking, but is Jordan your dad?" Nathan asked.

"What? No. I've never seen him in my life." Molly replied.

"It's just you have the same black eyes as him."

"You know what would suit you?" Molly quickly changed the subject off her dad.

"What?"

"White streaks in your hair." Molly grinned revealing a bottle of white hair dye.

Nathan ran his hands through his hair. The white stood out well, but he didn't really understand why Molly had to dye his hair. His room was really quite posh just for a visiting team. But the bad thing was, he had to share. Not just with anyone, but with Molly of all people. She was flat out on the bed reading a magazine on racing. Nathan grabbed his Music player and began playing it loud through the speakers.

"Hey! Turn that down I can't concentrate."

"Sorry. I need to listen to some music." Nathan replied.

"What is this? I've never heard it before."

"It's music from the beginning of the 21st century. It's better than the crap that is made now."

"Just to remind you, you also sing that crap."

"No I don't. I don't do hip hop and dance junk. So there." Nathan stuck his tongue out at her.

"Are you gonna sing along? Or just sit there."

"I prefer to sing on stage thanks."

"Then to me you don't even sing, you just mime." Molly insulted.

Nathan switched off his music and stormed out of the room, feeling bothered and pestered.

"Still the same moody little boy." Molly grinned to herself.

Nathan walked down the street listening to the local music being played and at the street artists and all the strange things being sold. It was like a giant market, buzzing and alive with friendly chatter and the sound of many footsteps. Then there in front of him was the largest building he had seen on the planet. It was filled with beautiful green plants and a waterfall down one side. There where strong looking guards bearing swords and daggers. He felt mesmerized by the castle and considered that this was the royal palace, where the king and queen of the planet lived. He didn't feel like asking if he could walk around the castle so he turned and left the magnificent building and back to the market. He saw a mechanic stall and approached it, in search of some tools to use. They looked unfamiliar to him but did the same basic things.

"Can I help you?" The vendor asked.

"Erm, can I have these, and that. As well as that pointy thing." Nathan pointed to a kit of screwdrivers, a spanner and what appeared to be a set of pliers.

"Do you need anything else?"

"Erm, do you have any hammer like tools?"

"Yes. I'll just go and get them." The attendant walked to the back of the store.

Nathan looked around him, gazing at the other market stalls in hope of one that sold food. Beside him a girl was looking at him.

"You're not from around here are you?" She asked.

"How did you guess?" Nathan replied.

"Are you racing here?"

"I don't think so. I'm not needed. They already have the pilot for the team."

"They need two pilots."

"Two?"

"Yes. Two pilots, no gunners. The pilot has to do everything."

"That's ok. The ship I made doesn't have a gun turret. The pilot fires laser blasts themselves."

"Sounds good." The girl nodded.

The shop assistant returned with the hammer for Nathan and placed with the other tools he had requested. He began working out the price of the tools.

"That would be 50 silver stamps." The assistant calculated.

"What, 50 silver stamps?"

"Here."

"What! No you can't pay for these. They must cost a fortune!" Nathan refused her to pay for the tools.

She picked up the bag and pushed it into Nathan's hands.

"Don't worry, in your currency it's only about £2. It's not that much so don't worry."

"But I don't even know who you are!" Nathan called.

"My name is Kara. My brother is racing in this race so I tagged along."

"Nathan, I'm here to show my dad that I can race too, well once he knows I'm here."

"I have to go. We have lots to do back at our pit. I'll see you at the opening ceremony in 1 hour." Kara waved goodbye and left.

Nathan felt incredibly lucky. This was the furthest he had ever been from Mars, and a complete stranger had just brought some tools for him. He ran across the market dodging all the stalls and the people.

"Right, find what you need then get back to the pit." A familiar voice ordered.

Nathan stopped and looked around the corner. There was the team from Mars, and his father and brother. Standing against the wall was Allie tightening some screws on her little side project.

"Can I ask something?" She asked lowering her tools.

"What?"

"Why am I the only girl in this whole team? And why didn't you hire my partner? He designed most of the racer. I just built it."

"Because he was unavailable when I asked for him before we left. Your manager said he didn't leave a contact number. Also you're not the only girl, we have girls on our other team from Earth. Now go explore the market and stock up on things." The team split and Allie walked Nathan's way. He slowly moved across the wall backing away.

"Nathan? What are you doing here?" Molly asked.

"Er, making my way back."

"Come on. We have 15 minutes. You're going the wrong way. The pit is that way. Look I want to go shopping, but my mum told me to find you so I wasn't alone. She thinks there are 'funny men' around these markets." Molly complained.

"Fine. I'll tag along to wherever you are going. It better be interesting."

"Forget I said that shopping with girls was interesting." Nathan moaned holding 6 bags filled with clothes and accessories.

"Shopping is fun, especially with prices like that. Who knew they took Earth currency too." Molly happily said swinging her two bags by her side.

"Did you two have fun?" Eva asked looking at all the bags.

"Yeah! I got some really nice stuff at the market. I got something for you too." Molly began searching her two bags for her mothers present.

"Looks like you did some heavy shopping Nathan."

"No, all of these are Molly's." Nathan dropped the bags.

"Hey. Here mum. I hope you like them." Molly grinned.

She had produced a set of bracelets, blue in colour. They almost looked like they had the sea moving in each bead

"They're beautiful Molly. Thank you. I'll put them somewhere safe. Go sit in the lounge. I'm having a meeting with the whole team."

Nathan walked up the stairs into the lounge. The rest of the mechanics where adjusting the Earth racer for Molly. He flopped onto the couch to wait. Molly followed him with half of her bags.

She sat one seat away from him looking at some of the things she had brought. Eva strolled into the room and called the Mechanics through the loud speakers on the wall. They all gathered into the room and sat opposite.

"Ok, all we have to wait for now is the Mars team." Eva concluded sitting down on a chair.

Nathan looked at Molly in panic. He couldn't miss the meeting, but if he did stay then his dad would recognise him, so would Allie. Then everything would be blown.


	5. Chapter 5 The first race

"Here, I brought these for when I was racing but you need them more at the moment." Molly passed him a pair of orange tinted racing goggles, that oddly looked like skiing goggles. He placed them over his eyes and shrank into the seat to make himself as un noticeable as possible. The Mars team entered. He was worried his father would recognise him, but he didn't and leant against the wall. His brother looked at him then stood next to his dad. Allie, instantly knew who he was, and mouthed his name. He frowned and folded his arms. Allie gave him a pout and sat next to him.

The meeting was mostly about how the teams where going to work together and who was piloting and who was repairing. Molly and Eva where racing for Earth, while Jay and another pilot called Chris was racing too. Nathan was stuck fixing things. Of course, now it was time for the opening ceremony. The two teams left together and split into groups. Eva walked with Rick, Jay and Chris discussing the races. The older mechanics formed a group and bragged about their achievements. Molly stuck with Nathan, and so did Allie.

"What's up Nathan." Allie asked loudening his name.

"Nathan? Who's he?" Nathan tried to lie his way out.

"Oh don't lie Nathan. I could spot you a mile away." Allie pulled forward the goggles on Nathan's head and snapped them back. Nathan adjusted them onto his forehead.

"Look, just don't tell my dad or my brother. I'm trying to get his attention before breaking the big news."

"How. You aren't racing." Molly told him blankly. She wasn't impressed with Allie.

"I know. I'm going to ask your mum if I can race for once."

"I doubt it. She loves racing." Molly sighed.

"Yeah, I bet she'll love to show off in front of that Jordan guy." Nathan joked.

Molly stomped off in a mood. Allie was giggling behind her hand. They arrived at a large arena. Nathan had tried to apologise to Molly hundreds of times but she ignored him.

"Don't worry Nathan, plenty more fish in the sea." Allie grinned.

"I don't like her Allie. Keep your nose elsewhere." Nathan replied.

"Quiet you two. The ceremony is starting." Molly shut up the pair

The ceremony started with the a little display from the people on the planet, well, a couple of dancing girls and musicians. Then the judges came. They where old, wrinkly and looked rather strict to be interested in watching racing.

"Welcome to the first races on the planet Octrona. We will place each person in groups randomly. This board will show your team logo and what group you are in. There will also be a list of those groups sent to each pit. The first races will begin in 1 hour. There will be 5 races held simultaneously. If you are racing then your logo will now appear in water form." One of the people of Octrona said.

10 different stone symbols where placed onto a board.

"This is the first group. I'm sure everyone is capable of recognising their own symbol."

Another stone board was next to it and the sequence continued until there where 10 boards in total.

Nathan looked to find the Earth symbol. He found it and it had already been paired up with a symbol Nathan was unfamiliar with.

"Hey Nathan do you know what symbol that is?" Molly asked.

"No, but your mum does. She looks pretty shaken." Nathan replied.

The ceremony ended and Eva marched them all back for a quick chat.

"The opponent we are facing first is a creature known as Spirit. I have raced him before and he is quiet. So I have decided I will not race with Molly. I fear for my own safety if I face Spirit again. Nathan, can you race?"

"Er yeah." Nathan was shocked by this, almost as if Eva had read his mind.

"Good. Get ready. You're racing with Molly today." Eva told him.

"Hey! Your safety! What about mine!" Molly asked.

"It's not my safety. It's the racers." Eva left the pair to prepare alone for a while. She had thinking to do.

Nathan stood on the racer, next to Molly worried about his first race. It was the first time he was racing on one of the new designs. Molly was seated on a rocket seat. Preparing her racer for when the gates dropped. Nathan was checking that the board racer was still working. The engines still felt new and smooth, yet the steering felt stiff. It needed a couple of races to get it smoother.

"Look, just keep calm. I know this is your first race and all, but I'm sure you're awesome." Molly tried to boost his confidence. It didn't work. There where two creatures, identical in shape and height.

"These must be what my mum called Spirit. Unless it's just one. Now I've seen them, I've heard that these creatures are very violent racers and will make you crash. But they can also show you visions of the future and past. They're quite rare now. Most have died off due to our expansion." Molly pointed at the two black creatures that had no racer.

"Ha, they forgot to bring their racer with them." Nathan laughed nervously. He had a bad feeling about these two so called 'Spirits'

Nathan closed up the roof and switched everything on. The racer lifted into the air as the water gate dropped slowly. Nathan was first off the mark. The board gave him a faster take off time and a quicker speed build up. But he only went as fast as Molly could, with the regular engines. The two spirit things where behind him. They were their own ships. Molly was right behind them trying to pass the one at the back.

"Nathan, be careful. If Molly comes last, we have to re race to get through. If she comes second or third we are through." Eva explained.

"Ok, but how can I get Molly back up to third place or second place?" Nathan asked taking a corner with ease.

"That's up to her. She knows what she is doing." Eva cut the communications and let Nathan race.

He was in the lead, with one of the spirit racers right behind him. It whizzed over the top of the racer and in front of Nathan.

"Oh no you don't." Nathan mumbled switching on the booster engines. He shot off past the spirit racer in greater speeds.

"Nathan! Don't leave me! I can't go as fast as you. We still have to upgrade the engines on this up to your standards." Molly yelled at him from her racer.

"Sorry. Switch on your hyper drive then."

"I would love to, but it's gone. They removed it because it wasn't working and could explode during the race."

"Well at least put on your booster drives, just do something." Nathan cut the communications. He could see the end already. The spirit racer had fallen way behind. He shut down the booster drives and slowly drifted across the finish line. The first spirit racer crossed the line. There where already a few other racers already finished when Nathan had arrived, including the Mars teams top racer, Jay. Nathan looked at the gate, to who was coming next. He was nervous. If Molly hadn't gotten past the second spirit racer then they where out. Molly shot across the finish line bumping Nathan's racer. The spirit racer crossed right after her.

"Sorry, I couldn't slow down or I would of lost." Molly apologized through communications.

"Congratulations, you won your first race. Nathan, I'm impressed. You can't half race one of those things."

"Yeah. I guess I can." Nathan sounded breathless and tired.

"Are you ok?" Molly asked.

"No…" Nathan replied before blacking out in the racer.


	6. Chapter 6 The truth is revielled

Once in a while, Eva would check in on Nathan. He hadn't moved for 3 days. She had to race the races in place of him. They where holding on fine, coming either first or third between them. Molly was fine racing with her mother. She seemed relieved not to be racing with a boy, especially a Thunderbolt boy. Molly never had liked Rick, or Jay and Nathan just topped the cake nicely. She was disappointed that none of their kids where girls so she could chat to another girl about girly things, other than her obsessed friends and racing mad mother. Eva had a suspicion that something was wrong, and she hadn't noticed it before.

"Molly, how are you feeling today?" Eva asked sitting next to her daughter.

"Fine why would I be feeling bad or worse?" Molly asked.

"Just wondering Did Nathan seem fine to you during the race?"

"For the last time, yes, he seemed fine."

"Just checking."

Eva looked at her daughter, she reminded her of herself when she was 15, well a little. She was tomboyish and she loved star racers. But what made her life so different from Eva's, was the fact she had always had a parental figure in her life. Eva left her daughter to relax in the meeting room for a while longer, while she decided to contact the Mars team.

Nathan was stood in a dark room, everything was black. He couldn't see what was what or if there was a way out. He wasn't sure if it was a dream or if it was real. Every inch of his body was aching but it still felt like he was asleep. Slowly, his surroundings became more visible, it was the room on Octrona. He rolled onto his side, feeling relieved. It was still night. Molly was asleep on the bed across from his own, spread out on top of the covers snoring loudly. He looked at the clock, surely it couldn't be right. It said it was mid afternoon. But yet they where all in their beds. He blinked and checked the clock again. It now said it was early in the morning, about three. He spun his clock around. He didn't want to know how fast time was passing. Nathan rolled onto his back and stared at the ceiling. Normal, plain, damp and cracked from the heat of the day. As he focused on the ceiling more and less on his surroundings he noticed a symbol formed out of the cracks. It seemed to be cracking more as he looked at it. Either he was drunk or he was having a really bad case of heat stroke. It began to grow bigger and larger, expanding so it was larger than himself. He couldn't draw himself away from this symbol. It seemed to be drawing him into it. The edges began to glow a reddish purple and trembled violently as if something was coming through. A low crackled voice sounded in his head.

"You belong to me…"

Then he woke up.

He didn't wake up normally, he shot out of bed falling onto the floor, not realising that every muscle in his body was aching.

"Jesus Christ, what the hell happened?" Nathan thought pulling himself over to the bed.

Molly, who heard him jump out of bed looked through the door and found herself shocked to see him sitting on the floor breathing heavily and sweating madly.

"Are you ok? You look like you have the flu or something." Molly asked.

"I'm fine. I just had a bit of a shock that's all." Nathan mumbled lifting himself up.

"What kind of shock?"

"I…Erm…saw a spider." Nathan lied pointing to a medium sized spider crawling up the wall.

"You're scared of spiders?"

"No, it's just shocked me because I didn't expect to see any here." Nathan lied badly, but it seemed to be working.

"Whatever. I'll go tell my mum that you woke up. I think she's calling someone." Molly left him in the room with the spider.

"Rick? It's Eva. Just checking on how things are in your area." Eva told Rick.

"Things are fine. I just called home to find out that Nathaniel is gone. He hasn't been home since I left." Rick explained to Eva. She felt her stomach jump three feet to the left.

"Oh, that's a bit of a shock. But it's a bit of a coincidence. Molly was talking about him before. She said her friends are obsessed over him and they have tickets to see him next month." Eva tried not to sound nervous but it was pretty hard not to.

"Mum! Nathan's awake…oh hi Rick." Molly spoke too soon. She saw Ricks face on the monitor and grinned and waved slightly realising she had just spilled the beans un intentionally.

"Look, Molly found him pondering around outside. He didn't want to be left behind again Rick. He is really determined to race. That first race we won was against Spirit and another creature like spirit. He won that race on pure talent. But I don't know what happened after he came in first. He just blacked out in the cockpit." Eva explained.

She wasn't sure if Rick was angry, understanding or completely bonkers that she brought his son along and didn't tell him.

"You shouldn't of let him race. I need to tell you something. I don't want Molly to know about it. She tends to let things slip too easily." Rick replied. Eva shooed Molly out of her office and resumed her call on the secure line.

"Go on."

"When Nathan was younger, and when I was visiting Earth, just with him, there was an accident. He is lucky to still be alive today. I'm sure you remember why I can't race, well something like that happens to him, but he loses control of his nerves especially around the base of the brain so he just blanks out and later can't remember what happened about an hour before he does blank out. We never told him because he would panic which would make him get stressed, just like what happened with me back on Alwas. So please, don't tell him." Rick explained.

"I'm sorry, I didn't know about that. It's a real shame too. He's such a good racer." Eva sighed.

"Mum! Nathan's taking off!" Molly screamed through the locked door.

"What? Rick I think we have a problem." Eva ended the call and ran out of her office.

No doubt, there was Nathan standing on his board inside his racer. He seemed to be fine, no stiff muscles anymore. The racer was hovering in mid air and he looked rather calm inside waving at them happily.

"It's a shame that he can't race." Jordan told Eva appearing beside her.

"Oh, Jordan. You heard the conversation?"

"Yeah. You didn't notice me on the couch reading the magazine? I thought I was incredibly obious." Jordan sighed.

Nathan shot out of the garage doors and glided over the water smoothly. It was going to be hard to break the news that he couldn't race in a proper race again, but what confused her was how he could just jump in one and not realise that he had been out for 3 days with no memory of even winning a race. Eva saw Rick appear at the garage door, looking angry.

"Is there a way to contact him from here?" Rick yelled.

"Yes. Follow me." Eva led Rick into a small control room where it was monitoring Nathan's heart rate, stress levels and what he was doing. Eva began instantly opening the communications link to Nathan. As soon as it opened Rick was yelling down the speaker.

"Nathaniel! Turn that racer around and get back here! You're not fit to race again." Rick bellowed. Into the speaker.

"No way Dad, I'm fine. I'm going to race if you like it or not. I know we have a race now and I want to win." Nathan replied.

Molly appeared at the door and watched the chaos unfold.

"Molly, get into your racer and get Nathan back here he can't race." Eva instructed.

Molly nodded and left quickly. Secretly she wanted Nathan to race. With him they had a good chance of winning. With her mum they did too, but she could yell violent things at Nathan and not get in trouble. She slid down the banister and landed on the ground and climbed up the metal ladder into the cockpit to chase after Nathan. Molly heard Rick shout from the control room.

"Well get the communications back up again!" He yelled banging on the control panels.

Molly switched everything on and took off after Nathan.

Nathan grinned happily as he flew over the lakes and vast open spaces of water to the race. He had just cut off the communications to the control room, just to keep his dad out of his personal life. Molly's face appeared on the screen she was grinning like a Cheshire cat.

"I take it you've come to take me back." Nathan sighed.

"No way, I want you to race as much as you do. Just promise me you won't get too stressed."

"What? I don't get stressed out. I'm perfectly fine when I'm racing." Nathan replied.

"Well why did you black out in the last race?"

"Black out? Why, when did I race?"

"You raced against Spirit 3 days ago. You came in first place then you blacked out on us. My mum had to race in your place. The judges allowed it until you woke up."

"Well I'm awake and ready to race, but seriously, did I come in first place?"

"You did, but that was because my ship hadn't got the same engine power as yours. But now it does."

"Right. I'll see you at the race." Nathan cut off the chat and pulled into the stadium. The crowd was just settling down.

Nathan let the lid slide back and he waved. The opposing team was already there looking at him. He spotted a familiar face laughing at him. He remembered her from the market meeting it was Kara, and he was still in his pyjamas racing. He grinned and sat back down. Clearly embarrassed. He felt happy that he didn't decide to leave a t shirt at home otherwise he would be incredibly embarrassed. Molly set down her ship and let the lid fold down for the judges to see it was her inside. All 4 ships closed up their roofs and Kara's face appeared on Nathan's screen.

"Cute p.j's. Maybe you should consider changing next time." She joked.

"I was in a rush." Nathan mumbled switching everything on.

"After the race, do you and Molly want to hang out with me and my brother?" She asked.

"Sure, I'll ask Molly later." Nathan cut the line. No distractions. He wanted to win. But he had no clue how fast Kara could race. There was a new addition to the arena, a count down screen. Nathan just watched the water gate. When it dropped he had to get through it first. It dropped and he felt a sudden burst of energy, and he shot through the gate first, instantly activating the hyper drive.

"Whoa, calm down Nathan. You're going to fast. This is too curvy for the hyper drive yet." Molly told him.

"No. I can handle it. I have to win this race."

"Look, you won't have enough fuel at this rate." Molly told him.

"Shut up! Just shut up!" He yelled blocking all communications from anyone.

He continued to race, his rear view cam showed that Kara was right behind him, speeding along, gaining up to him. He grinned and carried on racing, taking the corners very sharply. Once the track had smoothed out, Kara appeared beside him, flying right beside his own racer. He looked across and waved, she waved back. A clink sounded on the roof of his racer, he looked up and a small crack had formed. Confused he signalled Kara to turn off hyper drive. He did and so did she. He allowed her access.

"Something is falling here. My roof has a crack in it." Nathan told her.

"I heard something clink against the engines, but I thought nothing of it." Kara told him.

"Maybe it's going to Hail stone, or maybe a kid was throwing pebbles."

"I doubt someone was throwing pebbles, nobody can hit one going as fast as we where."

"Oh."

"I want you to win Nathan." Kara told him.

"What? You should win it. I don't want to win against you. It won't seem right."

"Let's call it a draw. If we fly through at the same speed then they'll have to call it a draw. They have no cameras to check who came through first. We'll both be awarded half of the points and it's up to our second pilot who's going to get the most then."

"Good plan." Nathan closed the communication and continued to race alongside Kara.

"Nathan! Stop racing now before we shut down your ship from here." Rick ordered. He had cracked through his block on communications.

"No chance Dad. This race is sorted. I know the pilot I'm racing against. We've agreed that we're going to pull a tie."

"You have 10 seconds to stop racing or I'll shut you down from here."

"That's all we need."

Nathan passed a signal to Kara to switch on hyper drive. She did. They shot off, staying at the same speed. Nathan counted down. The finish line was just ahead of them and they where practically level. He began to count down.

"Ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two…" He was almost there.

"One!" He crossed the line at the same time as Kara. The ship shut down and dropped to the floor.

"Too late dad! I tied the race!" Nathan laughed. His dad's face was wrinkled with annoyance.

Molly came in third place, or second seeming two people came in first. She didn't go into hyper drive as she realised halfway round she didn't have enough fuel to last if she switched it on.

"Are you ok Nathan?" Molly asked.

"Me, I'm fine. I couldn't be better. I feel great!" Nathan cheered happily.

"You don't feel faint or anything."

"Nope. Oh, where hanging out with Kara and her brother after the races. Well, now really." Nathan told her. His conversation was cut short with a message from the base.

"Hey Nathan, well done. You're dad has gone now. His team is racing next. Bring back the racer and don't pass out again. I didn't know how to switch it to the rocket seat last time." Eva told him.

"Kay. I'll be back in a few minutes. Molly's ship has a leak. She'll be slower." Nathan switched his communications over. "Hey Kara, I'll meet you somewhere soon. I have to take the racer back." Molly looked out of her racer and saw a drip of fuel fall to the floor.

"That's why I was short on fuel." Molly thought.

"Ok, meet me in the stands." Kara replied.

Nathan proudly left the arena watching his team's points mount up. If his season carried on like this he would win it for sure, but deep inside his mind, he had a sneaking suspicion something was about to go horribly wrong.


	7. Chapter 7 Mutiny!

"Come on Nathan. You're meant to be stronger than me." Molly complained.

"Sorry for being tired." Nathan apologised sarcastically as he gave Molly a piggy back ride to the arena.

"You're too slow." Molly slid off his back and ran ahead.

She collapsed on the grassy hill looking over the arena. It was too full to find any seats now. The local team was racing so everyone had turned out. Nathan sat next to her and rubbed his shoulder. It was still aching a little.

"I forgot to ask, how did you go to school and stuff, being famous and all. Wouldn't of it been hard?" Molly asked.

"Easy, I didn't go to school."

"Then where did you learn to build racers?"

"I taught myself. I got all the sources from the internet and books. I bought the parts with my money and never let my dad know. I've known Allie for 2 years. Her Uncle let me use his garage to build in, as long as I let Allie help too."

"So you're pretty much useless at algebra and other stuff."

"Hey, did I say I was dumb? I said I didn't go to school. I still learnt things from books and something called an older brother and his old books."

"If you don't like what you do, then why don't you just stop?"

"Nah, how else am I going to buy parts? It's not like my dad is going to pay for them. Besides, sometimes it has its pros." Nathan grinned thinking to himself.

"Like what? Free junk you get paid to advertise?"

"Nope. The chance to meet tons of old bands and visit loads of places you could only dream of visiting. Plus 3 months away from your dad."

"Don't you ever miss him?"

"Nope. He hasn't really appeared in my life much. He's always been away managing races. I hate to say this but Eva's been in my life more that him."

"Wow, so he's not around much."

"When I was first born, I didn't actually see him until I was 4. Well, what I can remember."

"That's a shame. I've never known my dad. All I know is he came and left like that. But he still keeps in contact with my mum."

"Like I said before, it's defiantly that Jordan guy."

"He is not my dad! Can't you get that through your thick skull?" Molly pushed Nathan into a rock next to him. He curled up into a ball holding his stomach.

"Nathan? Are you ok, if I hurt you I didn't mean it!" Molly panicked.

She spun him over and he burst out laughing.

"Oh my god! You should have heard your self!" Nathan laughed uncontrollably.

Molly looked ticked off and folded her arms and legs in protest. Sometimes Nathan really got on her nerves, other times they got on almost too well for it to be natural

"Hey guys!" Kara called waving at them.

Nathan glanced around and waved, still laughing slightly.

"Hope I didn't miss anything. I came alone. My brother didn't want to go in the end. He said he wanted to clean his racer instead the big bore."

"As most brothers are." Nathan replied, understanding where Kara was coming from with older brothers.

"So what where you guys talking about?" Kara asked.

"Just our family nothing too big." Nathan replied.

"On my planet, family is the most important thing in our lives. Most people live in poverty so they have nothing else. I heard there was a prize and I want to give some of the money to the poorer families on our planet."

"How do you know that it's money?" Molly questioned

"What do you mean?" Kara asked sitting down with them.

"When I was little, my mum used to tell me a story about a great race on Oban of a young girl and her partner. She was racing to bring her mother back from the dead. But before the last race, she found out that the prize was to become the Avatar and in the end during a fight with a great evil, her partner sacrificed himself to be the Avatar, to live for 10000 years. She also said that her partner liked her. There was also a Prince involved and something about the Kroggs, but I can't remember that part." Molly summed up a story her mother used to tell her.

"I doubt that. Everyone knows the latest Avatar was enthroned only 25 years ago. So they won't be after a new one for a while, well, not in our life time."

"Maybe it's for an assistant." Nathan guessed.

"Why would the Avatar need an assistant Nathan? He can be in multiple places at once, he possesses the greatest powers in the universe and controls everything."

"He's not the only greatest magician in the galaxy." Nathan muttered.

"What? Nobody is as great as the Avatar!" Kara told him strictly.

"What about Sul? He was powerful. There where rumours that his powers where equal to the Avatars. But he disappeared. Some say he disappeared on a trip to Oban."

"Well he's gone now, so there's no need to worry."

"Yes, but if he is gone, who's using his powers? Things just don't disappear. They searched the planet for years but never found him. I say a dark force was at work. Like the one Molly described in her mothers story."

"Yeah, like that story really happened."

"I think it did. The next Avatar is chosen by a race, and you're describing what a race on Oban is like, or so I think. I think Eva raced on Oban, and I think that Stan and Koji were there too. How did the Whizzing Arrow become number 4? Why has my dad, Eva, Stan and Koji and Jordan all been to Alwas at the exact same time? I'm not as dumb as I look and I think there's something about Jordan." Nathan argued.

"The Whizzing Arrow became number 4 because my mother crashed all the rest or another racer did."

"Please stop fighting. We all have our theories about the Avatar and let's just say every ones theories are right."

"Hey, isn't that Allie?" Molly pointed to a figure running towards them.

"Yeah, it is!" Nathan waved to her. She stopped and stood over them.

"Nathan I need to talk to you, pronto!" Allie gasped. She had just ran from the Mars pit to this hill.

"Why? What's wrong?" He asked standing up.

"No time, get moving." She pulled him away from Kara and Molly and into a hiding place that was almost like a cave.

"What do you want?" He asked, making sure he sounded annoyed.

"There's a mutiny Nathan. They say you're cheating. If you carry on winning like this they're going to dispose of you."

"What! I'm only doing what I do best."

"Yes, but people know that you blacked out in the racer on your first race and know how long it takes before someone is fit to fly. They think that you faked it. They think you're here to take over the universe. Some mad nut in a hut told everyone you where a reincarnation of evil itself! You have to watch out."

"But what about my dad?."

"For your sake, I hope he never finds out." Allie finished.


	8. Chapter 8 The Missing Pilot

**Lil Notes from moi!**

**Firstly, I thought I'd add that I'm sorry about the HUGE gab between this chapter and the other one, things got in the way and this sorta got pushed back into the dark. Thankies to all the people that have been reading this story. Anyway, BIG thankies to all the people that reviewed this story, especially Star Fata and crazyvegimab. You two have practically reviewed every chapter **

**Anyway… On with the story!!**

Shortly after Nathan's little chat with Allie, he told the others he was heading back to the pit. Kara agreed that she better go back to. Molly followed Nathan. On their way back. Nathan didn't say anything.

"So, what did Allie want?" Molly asked. She got no answer.

"Are you going to be back in time for your tour?"

"Look, just let me think. Invent someone to talk to." Nathan grumbled back at her.

"Oh fine, I'll just create a new person to talk to. So mr invisible how was your day. Mine was ok I guess. My friend is being a total jerk and is ignoring me!" Molly yelled into thin air.

"Would you please shut up and stop trying to be in the spotlight all the time! All you do is talk and gossip it's getting to be rather annoying! If you want to say something ask me when I'm not trying to think!" Nathan yelled back to her he stormed off and left Molly stunned on the path.

He walked past the pit. He didn't want to face anybody now. The Mars pit was empty. He guessed they where all at the earth pit talking over things. It had begun to rain, but he didn't want to enter the pit and get bombarded with countless questions and the constant chatter of Molly. He thought about a song that he loved. It fitted the scene and his mood perfectly.

"I walk a lonely road, the only one that I have ever known. Don't know where it goes, but its home to me and I walk alone. I walk this empty street, on the boulevard of Broken dreams. Where the city sleeps and I'm the only one and I walk alone I walk alone. I walk alone. I walk alone. I walk alone. I walk alone. My shadows the only one that walks beside me. Sometimes I wish someone out there will find me. 'Till then I walk alone."

"You're good you know." Kara commented.

Nathan turned around. Kara was leaning in the doorway of her pit.

"Well you don't know who I' am though."

"Well tell me who you are."

"On Earth, and Mars, I'm famous. When I was little I starred in a movie, and later in a baby advert. But later my dad found out I could sing and handed me over to the record companies while he secretly moved over to Earth to let my brother race. Once I was old enough to look after myself in the spot light. I began to realise that the show wasn't for me, and I preferred racing and building to being followed everywhere by screaming girls. Allie and Molly are the only two girls not to mind me being famous." Nathan explained.

"That's nothing to be ashamed of admitting. On my home planet, I'm royalty. There, we both know something more about each other."

"Wait, so you're like a princess or something?"

"No, that's my cousin. Do you really think that they're going to let a princess race? I'm just part of the family. I better go. My dad is yelling at me for still being out. I'll see you at the races tomorrow." Kara waved goodbye to Nathan and closed the pit doors. Leaving Nathan in darkness. He continued to walk down the un even paths and passed many pits, each logo was hard to see in the darkness. He came across a small port and walked across the wooden planks to a secluded place, hidden away by crates and tubs filled with fish. It smelt weird, but he could sit here un noticed until he felt like returning home.

Molly entered the pit slowly, completely oblivious to what was happening around her. She was upset about what Nathan had said to her. She should have stuck with her original verdict of him. He was a two faced jerk.

"Molly, where is Nathan?" Eva asked stopping her daughter.

"I don't know. He walked ahead of me in a mood." Molly shrugged.

"We have to find him. He's in great danger. One of the teams has convinced the judges that Nathan is cheating. If we don't find him first, who knows what will happen to him." Eva began to worry.

"I'm sure he just stopped somewhere to think. He seemed really distant after a chat with Allie.

"I know. I told her to go and talk to him. I sent Rick out with Stan, Koji and Jordan for a while. Let's hope those 3 know how to keep their big mouths shut."

"Mum, what's happening?"

"I explained it to you Molly, the other racers think Nathan is cheating. Some think he is the reincarnation of evil. But I don't see why people are thinking this. Someone is spreading rumours, and I want to know who. I recommend that you go to bed Molly. We'll find out where Nathan is. Don't worry." Eva pushed Molly up the stairs and into her bedroom. It felt larger without Nathan hogging up most of the room, saying that it was his space. She changed into her pyjamas and sat on her bed looking at the stars through the window. It was times like these that she wished she had a father.

"There is a house in New Orleans, they call the Rising Sun, It's been the ruin of many a poor boy, and God, I know I'm one. I cried to my daddy on the telephone,  
how long now? Until the clouds unroll and you come down,  
the line went. But the shadows still remain since your descent, you're decent.." Nathan sung to himself happily. He felt calm again now. He continued to hum the tune while tapping his foot on the planks. He heard more feet behind him. He stopped humming and sat up and turned around. A whole crowd of the people on the planet stood over him. Some had fishing rods and nets, but he was sure they where fishermen.

"Err, can I help you?" Nathan asked grinning nervously at the crowd.

"You're team is racing against ours tomorrow right."

"We are? Well good luck." Nathan tried to be peaceful.

"We started rumours that you where evil to get the crowds to hate you. Right now you are one of the favourites to win. But this planet needs to be drained so we can get back our ancient cities and towns that where lost by the great floods. We have better jobs than being fishermen. We used to work farms for food instead of these cursed seas."

"Well, I'll try not to win, but I can't help if the other people are too slow."

"Oh don't worry, our team will win, with no race."

"What are you on about?"

"If there is only one team member, then the race can not progress."

"What? Let me through." Nathan tried to push his way through. But he should of known better that Fishermen aren't weak, especially these fishermen. They blocked him with the nets while they surrounded him.

"Hey! This is unfair, there are like 20 of you and only one of me!" Nathan carried on pushing his way out.

"Enough of this nonsense!" The leader called.

One of the fishermen brought down their thickest rod down onto his head. He fell to the floor.

Molly felt a strong sun beaming over her as she still lay propped up against the wall. She looked over at Nathan's bed, it was still unmade and covered in junk. She sighed and took her shower and got dressed. Instead of finding her mother ordering people around, she found Rick and Jordan.

"Hey, Rick, what's happening?" Molly asked.

"You're mother is out looking for Nathan. He didn't come home, and you have a race against Octrona in 1 hour. Let's hope she finds him soon." Rick explained.

"What? Why didn't you go? You're his dad!" Molly asked.

"Eva said she would go as long as I look after the team. It would make it seem more like Nathan is from the Earth team and not the Mars team otherwise both teams would be disqualified." Rick told her.

"Oh ok. Jordan, is there a prize, really, a friend said that there is and that she is going to use the money to give to her people, but in a story my mum used to tell me, the prize that was given was to be the avatar, but the latest one only became avatar 25 years ago right, so what's the prize?"

"I can't say. You'll find out if you make it to round three. That's when the prize is reviled. Now why don't you go get some breakfast, or go out somewhere. It's going to get busy here."

"Well, can I help?"

"Save your energy for the race." Jordan returned to his work and left Molly to get a snack to eat.

Eva walked around the market, feeling that a lot of the fish mongers where staring at her, as well as the stall mangers and the locals. She had asked in nearly every shop and was about to start on the racers.

"Oops, sorry." A girl apologised.

"It's ok."

"Hey, you look like Molly, Nathan's friend." The girl spotted.

"You know Nathan?"

"Yeah, we hung out last night with Molly." Kara told her.

"When was the last time you saw him and was he with anyone?" Eva asked.

"Outside my pit. He was singing to himself, we had a conversation and I think he headed in the direction of the West Port. Why?" Kara asked.

"He didn't come back to the pit last night. I'm looking for him. If you see him, tell him to go back to the pit straight away and to get into the race." Eva told Kara.

"Ok. I will." Kara said her goodbyes and left Eva alone.

"The West Port. What secrets do you hold?" Eva thought heading towards the port.

Nathan opened his eyes slowly. The room was bobbing up and down. At first he thought it was just from the blow of the fishing rod, but it wasn't. He was in a boat and he hoped it was still tied up at port. He looked around the room. There wasn't anything odd about the room, except an old beaten wardrobe that seemed to smell funny.

"Where the heck am I?" Nathan thought sitting up and rubbing his eyes. He stepped over to the door and tried the handle. It fell off.

"Oh great. Now I can't get out. The windows are too small for me to fit through. I'm going to miss the race. Well at least Molly and Eva can race instead of me. Maybe someone will find me before I die." Nathan complained loudly.

Eva arrived at the West Port and looked around. A lot of the fishermen where busily working away, though she had heard that the Fishermen at the West port where incredibly lazy.

"Hey, have any of you seen Nathan Thunderbolt, one of the pilots for the Earth team?" She asked.

"Nope, ain't seen him since the last race."

"No, afraid not."

"I think I did, or it might have been some bad shrimp."

A ton of voices all replied to her. But they all seemed to be hiding something.

"Look, the race starts in an hour, can you help me find him."

"Of course we can." Half of them said together.

Soon Eva was searching the dock with a group of fishermen. It must have been 45 minutes before someone called her over.

"Is this the young man you're after?" One asked leading a dazed and confused Nathan out from behind a crate.

"Yes. Thank you." Eva led Nathan away from the port and waved back to the helpful fishermen.

"Just where do you think you have been?" She yelled at him.

"I'm sorry, I fell asleep. I guess the last race tired me out." Nathan told her.

"Well, don't do it again. Come on, we have a race to win."

Molly led Nathan into the pit and it erupted into cheering and clapping. Rick was standing waiting for them alone, it looked as if Jordan had disappeared again. The crew of mechanics where busily checking over Molly's last oil leak in the engines.

"I found him Rick." Eva shoved Nathan over to his dad. Rick looked at him and then back at Eva.

"That is not my son." Rick immediately said.

"What? Of course it is!"

"No he's not. My son has one brown eye and one green eye. This impostor has two brown eyes." Rick shoved the intruder into the conference room and began his investigation.

"Where is my son and his team mate?" Rick yelled at the fake Nathan.

"You'll never find them in time. The race starts in 10 minutes and you're down on two pilots." The fake Nathan was changing back into one of the Octronian people. They could clearly morph into other people.

"Tell me or I'll make sure that your little trick doesn't work again."

"They're at the East Port, a 20 minute walk from the arena." The Octronian told him grinning slyly. Rick turned and left. He wanted the two racers back, but more importantly he wanted his son back.

_Notes_

_The first song Nathan sings is Boulevard of Broken Dreams and was written by Billie Joe Armstrong from Green Day ©2004 Reprise Records_

_The second song is The saints are coming which was written by Richard Jobson and Stuart Adamson from the Skids. But the latest version was covered by Green Day and U2, but they don't own the song. _


End file.
